Arizona Space Grant ConsortiumStatewide Symposium

April 18, 2009

Light Detection and Ranging (LiDAR) Survey of a Sky Island

ForestThanks to

Tyson Swetnam, M.S.School of Natural Resources, University of Arizona

Stephen Yool, Ph.DDepartment of Geography and Regional Development,

University of Arizona

Jimmy Mack

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• Uncertainty regarding quantity and distribution of forest biomass (above ground carbon stores).

• LiDAR is becoming more available, shown to be highly accurate at quantifying forest structure (Anderson et al. 2005, Reutebuch et al. 2005).

• Unprecedented accuracy (typical R2 > 0.90) (McGaughey et al. 2006), becoming more cost effective (<$0.50/acre).

Perspective and Significance

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Objectives

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LiDAR data covering 31,857 hectares of forest land

Original purchase by Pima County Flood control

Santa Catalinas“Sky Island”

Aspen (2003) and Bullock Fires (2002)

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Data and Methods

Converted Log ASCII Standard (LAS) files to X,Y,Z format using Fusion

Digital Terrain Models

Canopy Height Models

Results and Discussion

Results and Discussion continued

Results and Discussion continued

Vegetation and Surface Model

Elimination of Surface Returns (0.7m and below)

Surface Elevation Subtracted from Vegetation

Results and Discussion continued

Calculation of Both Plot and Individual Tree Metrics (i.e. Canopy Diameter and Tree Height)

Ongoing Work

• Summer field work to validate/reference LiDAR measurements

• Stratification of vegetation by type, estimate biomass in kg/m2

• Inclusion of Pinaleño Mountains and other southwestern “sky islands”

References• Andersen, H.-E., S.E. Reutebuch, and R.J. McGaughey. 2006. Chapter 3: Active

remote sensing. In Computer Applications in Sustainable Forest Management, Edited by G. Shao and K. Reynolds. Springer-Verlag, Dordrecht.

• Andersen, H.-E., R.J. McGaughey, and S.E. Reutebuch. 2005. Estimating forest canopy fuel parameters using LIDAR data. Remote Sensing of Environment 94(4):441-449.

• McGaughey, R.J., H.-E. Andersen, and S.E. Reutebuch. 2006. Considerations for planning, acquiring, and processing LIDAR data for forestry applications. In Proceedings of the eleventh Biennial USDA Forest Service Remote Sensing Applications Conference, Salt Lake City, ID, April 24-28, 2006. American Society of Photogrammetry and Remote Sensing, Bethesda, MD.

• McGaughey, R.J., W.W. Carson, S.E. Reutebuch, and H.-E. Andersen. 2004. Direct measurement of individual tree characteristics from LIDAR data. Proceedings of the Annual ASPRS Conference, Denver, May 23-28, 2004. American Society of Photogrammetry and Remote Sensing, Bethesda, MD.

• Popescu, S.C., R.H. Wynne, and R.F. Nelson. 2003. Measuring individual tree crown diameter with lidar and assessing its influence on estimating forest volume and biomass. Canadian Journal of Remote Sensing 29(5):564-577.

• Reutebuch, S.E., H.-E. Andersen, and R.J. McGaughey. 2005. Light detection and ranging (LIDAR): An emerging tool for multiple resource inventory. Journal of Forestry 103(6): 286-292.